UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

MEDICAL  CENTER  LIBRARY 

SAN  FRANCISCO 


FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
HERBERT  C.  MOFFITCM,  IX 


Some 

Personal   Recollections 
of 

Dr.  Janeway 


By 

Dr.  Edward  Gamaliel  Janeway 

James   Bayard    Clark 


P.  Putnam's  Sons 
New  York 
Cbe   tmfcftetbocfcer  furees 

iv.7 


Some 

Personal  Recollections 
of 

Dr.  Janeway 


By 
James  Bayard   Clark 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 
New  York  and  London 
Cbe  •fcnicfeerbocher  press 

1917 


COPYRIGHT,  1917 

BY 
JAMES   BAYARD    CLARK 


trbc  fmfcfecrbocfecr  prcse,  flew  £orfc 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

C  DWARD  Gamaliel  Janeway  was  born 
in  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey, 
August  31,  1 84 1 .  He  was  graduated  from 
Rutgers  College  in  1860,  receiving  the 
degree  of  B.A.  and  M.A.  from  that  insti- 
tution. In  1864  he  was  graduated  from 
the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in 
New  York,  receiving  the  degree  of  M.D. 
Later  in  life,  the  degree  of  LL.D.  was  con- 
ferred upon  him,  by  Rutgers  in  1898,  by 
Columbia  in  1904,  and  by  Princeton  in 
1907.  While  in  the  medical  school  in  the 
years  1862  and  1863,  he  was  made  acting 
medical  cadet  in  the  United  States  Army 
hospitals  at  Newark,  New  Jersey. 

He  began  to  practise  medicine  in  New 

iii 


120958 


iv  Biographical  Note 

York  City  where  he  continued  and  ended 
his  professional  career.  In  1869,  he  be- 
came professor  of  pathology  and  practical 
anatomy  in  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical 
College,  continuing  in  that  capacity  until 
1876.  From  1868  to  1871  he  was  visiting 
physician  to  Charity  Hospital.  In  1871 
he  became  visiting  physician  to  Bellevue 
Hospital  where  he  remained  for  many 
years  and  where,  in  the  pathological 
department,  he  won  such  distinction.  He 
later  became  visiting  and  consulting  phy- 
sician to  other  hospitals  in  the  city. 

In  1874  he  was  vice-president  of  the 
New  York  Pathological  Society.  From 
1875  till  1882,  he  was  Health  Commis- 
sioner of  New  York.  In  1876  he  was 
president  of  the  New  York  Medical 
Journal  Association.  His  principal  con- 
tributions to  medical  literature  appear 
in  the  medical  journals  of  New  York. 

He  was  president  of  the  Academy  of 


Biographical  Note  v 

Medicine  in  1897  and  1898  and  a  trustee 
from  1899  until  1903. 

He  died  in  Summit,  New  Jersey,  on 
February  10,  1911. 


IN  MEMORIAM 

On  April  6,  1911,  the  Fellows  of  the 
New  York  Academy  of  Medicine  met  to 
honour  his  memory  and  to  give  reverent 
tribute  to  the  sum  of  his  accomplishments 
as  Pathologist,  Sanitarian  and  Physician. 


vii 


Some 

Personal    Recollections   of 
Dr.  Jane  way 


it  is  that  has  kept  urging 
me  to  write  down  these  recollec- 
tions of  Edward  Gamaliel  Janeway,  the 
physician,  would  indeed  be  rather  hard 
to  define,  but  the  desire  to  record  a  little 
something  of  what  I  had  personally  come 
to  know  of  this  unusual  man  made  itself 
felt  very  shortly  after  his  death,  now  over 
five  years  ago.  Since  that  time  this  feel- 
ing— steadily  growing — seems  irresistibly 
to  have  drawn  me  on  to  this  endeavour 


2  Dr.  Janeway 

to  add  some  little  part  to  the  perpetuation 
of  his  memory — this  man,  who  without 
pretence  held  the  reputation  of — one 
stops  to  take  a  breath  before  writing  it— 
the  reputation  of  being  the  best  diagnos- 
tician in  the  world. 

If  by  some  happy  chance  these  pen- 
pictured  glimpses  should  bear  some  like- 
ness to  the  man — if  they  should  bring 
out  here  and  there  a  line  or  colour  which 
will  recall  some  characteristic,  show  some 
quality,  reveal  some  trait  which,  for  those 
who  knew  him,  will  help  to  keep  his 
memory  fresh,  they  will  have  earned  for 
themselves  a  very  good  reward.  But 
beyond  this,  if  they  should  fall  to  the 
notice  of  a  younger  generation  and,  more 
especially,  to  those  choosing  the  profession 
of  the  physician,  and  the  reader  can  dis- 
cern therein  something  of  the  man  himself, 
can  get  some  glimpse  of  his  life  and  its 
meaning,  can  gain  some  sense  of  the  sin- 


Dr.  Janeway  3 

cerity,  the  simplicity,  the  self-sacrifice 
and  singleness  of  purpose  which  guided 
him  and  finally  lifted  him  so  far  out  of 
and  above  the  ordinary,  then  will  the 
pleasant  task  of  recalling  fully  justify 
this  venturesome  effort. 


It  was  in  the  midst  of  my  medical 
schooldays  and  in  the  unrestraint  of 
Adirondack  holidays  twenty  years  ago 
that  I  first  met  Dr.  Janeway.  As  I  look 
back  at  this  first  memory  I  can  see  a  vig- 
orous, well-built  man  a  little  way  on  in  the 
fifties,  dressed  for  a  mountain  climb  or  a 
game  of  golf.  His  fine,  firm-featured  face 
would  have  struck  one  as  rather  stern  if 
one  happened  to  miss  that  blessed  kindli- 
ness which  always  lighted  his  steady  eyes. 
Though  dressed  for  outing,  it  was  not  dif- 
ficult to  see  by  a  brief  study  of  his  face 
that  his  choice  of  exercise  was  intellectual 


4  Dr.  Janeway 

rather  than  physical,  yet  he  went  to  his 
game  or  his  walk  with  the  same  direct- 
ness of  purpose  with  which  he  went  to  his 
work. 

Ordinary  social  intercourse  was  an 
effort  for  him.  It  seemed  as  if  he  had  to 
focus  his  mind  down  to  the  mental  horizon 
of  the  everyday  world  of  everyday  people 
around  him,  yet  he  did  not  appear  im- 
patient of  the  small  talk  going  on  about 
him  so  long  as  it  was  plain  he  was  not  to 
take  part  in  it  himself. 

One  characteristic  which  never  failed 
to  impress  those  who  met  him  was  his 
reserve.  It  was  the  quality  of  it  which 
was  so  striking.  It  was  not  a  reserve 
which  was  raised  of  aloofness;  there  was 
no  particle  of  that,  no  self-esteem,  no 
egoism — common  builders  of  reserve — 
yet  on  the  other  hand  it  was  not  the 
retreat  of  shyness  as  many  might  have 
thought,  though  out  of  it  a  certain 


Dr.  Janeway  5 

constraint  was  undoubtedly  born.  One 
might  almost  say  it  was  a  result  rather 
than  a  reserve;  the  result  of  a  something 
hard  at  work  within;  a  preoccupying 
something;  a  gestating  something,  the 
offspring  of  which  was — well — what  he 
was. 

Another  quality  which  leaves  itself 
deep  carved  in  the  memory  of  these  early 
days  of  acquaintance  was  the  quiet,  un- 
conscious respect  he  seemed,  with  equal 
unconsciousness,  to  inspire  in  all  about 
him;  and  more,  even  in  those  who  in 
kinship  and  friendship  were  closest  to 
him,  and  with  a  constancy  which  never 
wavered.  In  those  days  only  the  more 
evident  traits  of  his  character  came  home 
to  me.  It  was  rather  by  feeling,  by 
intuition,  that  he  impressed  me.  I  had 
no  measure  of  my  own  with  which  to 
estimate  his  mental  attainments.  I  had 
a  kind  of  awe,  of  hero-worship  in  knowing 


6  Dr.  Janeway 

him,  which  left  me  reticent  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  any  medical  matters  with 
him — so  I  usually  stuck  in  those  days  to 
safer  subjects. 

It  was  not  until  two  or  three  years  later, 
after  I  was  graduated,  that  I  had  any 
association  of  a  professional  nature  with 
him.  It  was  near  the  end  of  the  summer, 
up  in  the  mountains.  An  elderly  lady, 
a  member  of  a  well-known  family,  was 
suddenly  taken  ill.  I  was  hurriedly  called 
to  see  her,  and  on  arriving  at  her  cottage 
was  told  that  Dr.  Janeway  had  been  sent 
for  also  and  would  be  there  soon;  but  they 
were  anxious  to  have  me  go  to  the  patient 
at  once.  The  state  of  excitement  into 
which  this,  my  first  professional  call, 
threw  me,  was  in  itself  enough  without 
the  crushing  thought  of  what  the  great 
man  might  think  of  me,  a  then  full-fledged 
M.D.  I  was  ushered  into  the  bedroom 
where  she  lay,  totally  unconscious  and 


Dr.  Janeway  7 

breathing  heavily.  As  I  hastened  to  the 
house,  I  had  been  formulating  in  my  mind 
just  the  questions  I  should  put  to  her— 
for  I  had  learned  in  the  medical  school 
how  to  take  a  careful  history — and  there 
she  lay  without  speech,  without  hearing, 
and  without  response.  As  I  stood  look- 
ing at  her  I  could  feel,  rather  than  see, 
the  family  anxiously  crowding  about  the 
doorway,  waiting  for  me  to  tell  them  just 
what  the  trouble  was,  how  serious  it  was, 
what  were  the  chances  of  her  recovery. 
At  that  moment  I  wondered  why  I  had 
ever  thought  of  studying  medicine.  I  sat 
down  by  the  bedside  and  felt  her  pulse. 
Why  was  she  unconscious?  I  tried  to 
think  of  all  the  things  which  caused  a 
state  of  unconsciousness.  Suppose  she 
should  die  before  I  could  think  of  what 
the  trouble  was,  and  before  I  could  do 
anything  to  save  her  life!  The  thought 
was  staggering!  And  then  as  I  looked 


8  Dr.  Janeway 

down  at  the  patient  again  I  realized,  alas, 
that  my  chance  of  making  a  diagnosis  to 
give  to  the  family  and  then  to  proudly 
repeat  it  to  Drt  Janeway,  had  vanished — 
for  at  that  moment  the  doctor's  voice 
could  be  heard  outside  the  door  and  the 
next  he  was  quietly  stepping  into  the 
room.  As  he  came  forward,  I  stood 
aside  to  give  him  my  place  at  the  bedside. 
He  asked  one  or  two  simple  questions 
which  I  was  fortunately  able  to  answer. 
As  I  look  back,  I  feel  sure  he  did  this  to 
put  me  at  my  ease.  This  was  the  first 
time  I  had  ever  seen  Dr.  Janeway  in  the 
sick-room.  It  would  be  hard  to  describe 
the  difference  between  this  man  I  now 
saw  examining  the  sick  woman  and  the 
Dr.  Janeway  I  had  known  before.  There 
was  a  light  in  his  eyes  and  an  alertness 
in  his  voice,  entirely  new  to  me,  as  he 
deftly  built  up  his  diagnosis,  pointing 
out  this  physical  sign  and  that,  until  the 


Dr.  Janeway  9 

complete  pathological  picture  seemed  to 
stand  out  as  on  the  page  of  a  book. 

A  little  later  as  we  came  out  from  a  talk 
with  the  family,  he  turned  to  them  and 
said:  "Now  the  doctor  and  I  wish  to 
have  a  little  consultation  together. ' '  How 
well  I  remember  my  feelings  at  that 
moment  as  he  led  me  into  a  room  apart 
and  closed  the  door.  Anticipating  what 
seemed  to  me  inevitable  I  said:  "Of 
course,  Dr.  Janeway,  they  will  want 
someone  who  is  older,  someone  with 
more — "  He  cut  me  short  with,  "You 
are  going  to  take  care  of  her/'  "But — 
but —  "  I  said.  As  if  reading  my  thoughts 
he  smiled  as  he  remarked:  "That's  what 
we  are  going  to  talk  over  now.  Get  a 
pencil  and  paper  and  we  will  outline  the 
necessary  treatment."  I  wrote  down 
what  he  suggested,  we  arranged  about 
getting  the  trained  nurses,  and  then,  some- 
how, as  the  Doctor  rose  to  go,  the  feeling 


io  Dr.  Janeway 

came  over  me  that  after  all  this  was  more 
of  a  job  than,  perhaps,  I  had  any  right 
to  undertake  alone.  I  stood  for  a  mo- 
ment with  these  thoughts  in  my  mind 
when  the  Doctor  put  his  hand  on  my 
shoulder  and  said:  "If  things  don't  go 
just  right  come  up  any  time  and  see  me 
and  well  have  a  little  talk;  or  if  you  need 
me  here,  let  me  know.  I  am  going  now  to 
tell  the  family  you  will  take  charge  of 
this  case. " 

And  thus  it  was  that  the  old  lady  was 
guided  back  to  consciousness  and  comfort 
by  the  steady  head  and  generous  hand 
in  the  background;  while  the  fledgeling 
physician  reaped  praise  for  her  progress. 


II 


TT  was  not  until  a  year  or  two  later  that 
I  was  again  brought,  in  a  medical  way, 
into  association  with  the  Doctor.  It 
happened  to  be  at  the  beginning  of  sum- 
mer and  at  a  time  when  I  was  waiting 
for  a  hospital  position  in  the  fall,  that  I 
received  word  from  him  offering  me  a 
position  in  his  office  in  New  York  to  take 
the  place  of  his  regular  laboratory  assist- 
ant who  was  to  be  away  for  several 
months.  No  offer  before  or  since  ever 
sounded  so  good  to  me.  The  morning  of 
the  appointed  day  saw  me  there  bright 
and  early.  This  was  to  be  a  rare  oppor- 
tunity. I  felt  it  then;  I  know  it  now. 
Some  of  the  secrets  of  his  greatness 
were  to  be  unfolded  to  me,  and  I  was 


12  Dr.  Janeway 

eager  for  the  work  which  would  teach  me 
something  of  his  ways. 

I  was  shown  to  the  laboratory  which 
was  to  be  my  special  province.  This 
was  equipped  for  carrying  out  by  micro- 
scopical and  chemical  analysis,  all  the 
practical  tests  which  were  necessary,  as 
well  as  some  bacterial  breeding.  Abso- 
lute accuracy  of  results  was  the  single  aim 
and  the  simple  motto  of  this  workshop. 
It  was  a  room  built  on  at  the  back  of  the 
house,  where  light  and  quiet  were  assured. 
To  the  front  of  this  were  the  waiting- 
rooms  for  the  patients,  and  at  the  front 
of  the  house,  the  Doctor's  office.  Simple 
and  sound  and  always  of  the  best  quality, 
would  serve  as  a  description  of  the  fur- 
nishings; there  was  a  striking  similarity 
between  these  and  the  advice  that  a 
patient  was  sure  to  receive. 

Several  days  went  by  without  seeing 
much  of  the  Doctor  beyond  saying  "  good- 


Dr.  Janeway  13 

morning,"  but  no  time  went  by  without 
feeling  that  force  in  the  farther  office.  It 
seemed  to  shape  itself  into  one's  work, 
into  one's  results.  One  was  not  told  to 
do  his  best — it  would  not  have  been 
necessary;  somehow,  one  did  it. 

One  day  about  noon,  word  came  from 
the  Doctor  asking  me  to  lunch  with  him 
upstairs  after  the  morning's  work  was 
finished,  which  was  usually  half-past  one. 
We  sat  down  to  table  together,  his 
family  being  away  for  the  summer,  and 
luncheon  was  served.  I  waited  quietly 
to  hear  what  the  Doctor  wished  to  speak 
with  me  about,  but  as  he  said  nothing,  we 
ate  on  in  silence  until  the  end  of  the  meal. 
When  we  rose  to  leave  the  table,  the 
Doctor  turned  to  me  and  in  his  blunt  way 
said:  "Better  have  your  lunch  here  every 
day."  As  he  hurried  off  to  keep  an 
appointment,  the  suspicion  fell  across 
my  mind  that  perhaps  he  had  surmised 


14  Dr.  Janeway 

that  my  pocketbook  would  be  better 
for  this  little  noonday  rest  he  was  sug- 
gesting; but  quite  apart  from  that,  I  was 
more  than  glad  to  have  this  extra  oppor- 
tunity of  being  with  him  and  of  learning 
from  him. 

For  some  little  time  we  met  daily  at 
lunch  without  the  conversation  getting 
much  above  the  level  of  the  small  civili- 
ties incident  to  eating,  when  one  day  it 
suddenly  came  over  me  that  I  was  not 
making  the  best  of  my  opportunities. 
But  Dr.  Janeway  was  a  man  of  very  few 
words.  Through  doing,  not  talking,  had 
he  risen  to  his  reputation — to  his  results. 
How  was  I  to  begin?  How  was  I  to  gain 
his  interest?  Surely  not  by  airing  that 
new  and  conventional  structure  of  scanty 
knowledge  the  medical  school  had  so 
recently  assisted  me  in  setting  up  in  my 
mind,  its  storerooms  so  empty  of  experi- 
ence, its  machinery  still  rigid  for  want  of 


Dr.  Jane  way  15 

real  use.  No,  I  did  not  mean  to  burden 
him  by  trying  to  open  the  ball  of  inter- 
course in  that  direction.  And  yet,  if 
somehow  we  could  only  get  on  some  com- 
mon ground,  and  I  could  commence  to 
learn  something  from  his  rich  experience; 
if,  somehow,  I  could  get  by  my  diffidence 
of  nature  in  the  presence  of  his  depth  of 
knowledge ! 

I  do  not  know  how  it  came  about,  as 
he  sat  there  opposite  me,  so  serious,  so 
silent,  but  something  seemed  suddenly  to 
plunge  my  mind  into  a  perfectly  irrelevant 
region  of  thought,  and  drag  therefrom  to 
the  surface  some  droll  tale  I  had  happened 
to  hear  only  a  few  days  since.  Before  I 
knew  it,  I  was  telling  the  Doctor  that 
story.  Fools  rush  in;  but  there  is  a 
Providence  that  cares  for  them,  for  the 
Doctor  enjoyed  it — he  laughed,  and  from 
then  on  interchange  of  thought  was  less 
restrained. 


Ill 

A  S  time  went  on,  the  structural  ele- 
ments  of  this  extraordinary  man's 
character  became  more  and  more  evident. 
He  was  then  at  the  very  apogee  of  his 
useful  career.  His  fame  had  found  its 
way  around  the  world.  The  makings  of 
a  material  monument  were  within  his 
easy  reach — the  thing  which  spells  su- 
preme success  in  life  for  so  many  men  and 
women,  and  not  a  few  physicians,  was  at 
his  very  door  had  he  cared  to  look  in  that 
direction;  yet  his  face  was  set  steadily 
forward  toward  other  things.  If  his 
income  was  ample,  his  energy  was  enor- 
mous, and  he  spent  both  freely  for  the 
best  interests  of  his  profession  and  his 
people  whom  he  loved.  One  hears  of  the 
fabulous  fees  physicians  sometimes  get. 

16 


Dr.  Janeway  17 

Dr.  Janeway  never  used  his  unique  posi- 
tion to  prey  upon  the  pockets  of  patients, 
simply  because  they  were  people  of  large 
worldly  wealth.  To  him  a  patient  was 
a  human  being  who  was  sick  and  who 
needed  to  get  well  by  the  shortest  pos- 
sible route  science  and  sense  could  secure. 
Each  patient  also  provided  a  problem,  and 
it  was  here  where  his  masterly  mind  with 
its  prodigious  store  of  pathological  infor- 
mation, derived  a  singular  satisfaction. 
Illustrating  the  Doctor's  direction  of  mind 
in  matters  of  money  in  comparison  with 
his  interest  in  the  patient's  condition,  this 
story,  which  belongs  to  the  period  of  his 
beginning  prominence,  is  significant  even 
if  its  verity  cannot  be  vouched  for. 

To  one  of  the  smaller  Hudson  River 
valley  towns  the  Doctor  was  called  by  a 
local  practitioner  to  see  in  consultation  a 
man  noted  for  his  wealth,  who  lay  criti- 
cally ill.  All  the  afternoon  and  evening 


1 8  Dr.  Jane  way 

were  consumed  in  this  rather  trying  trip. 
When  the  next  morning  at  breakfast  his 
wife  made  some  mention  of  his  arduous 
journey  of  the  previous  day,  his  face 
lighted  up  with  interest  at  the  recollection. 
To  a  practical  wife,  what  could  be  more 
natural  than  an  interest  which  embraced 
with  some  satisfaction  the  thought  of  her 
husband's  immediate  reward — that  re- 
ward which  could  be  readily  converted 
into  the  shoes  and  frocks  constantly 
needed  by  the  little  brood  about  her? 
So  led  on  with  the  thought  in  her  mind, 
she  inquired  how  far  the  Doctor  had 
travelled — the  town  to  which  he  had  gone. 
He  told  her  with  readiness  the  name  of 
the  railway  station  where  the  practitioner 
had  met  him  and  driven  him  to  the 
patient's  house;  then  his  face  relighting 
with  the  memory  of  the  case  which  had  so 
engrossed  him,  came  out  in  his  character- 
istic way  with:  "Very  sick  man;  pneu- 


Dr.  Janeway  19 

monia;  unusual  type — very  unusual." 
"But  that  very  long  trip,  a  whole  after- 
noon and  evening,  that  should  mean  a 
pretty  good  fee,"  said  his  wife.  The 
Doctor,  his  mind  still  occupied  with  the 
sick  man's  problem,  replied:  "It  was  in 
the  upper  lobe,  right  side,  quite  solid, 
very  rare — very  rare  to  see  that  in  these 
cases." 

Then  very  gently  from  his  wife  came: 
"Did  you  remember  to  put  down  his 
address?"  "No,  no, "  was  the  somewhat 
irritable  response.  His  mind  then  going 
back  to  the  patient  again:  "But  I  have 
my  notes  on  the  case — on  his  condition. " 
"But  his  name?"  she  came  out  with, 
"so  that  you  can  send  your  bill;  you  put 
that  down  ?  "  "  His  name  ? ' '  repeated  the 
Doctor  slowly,  a  slight  frown  of  annoy- 
ance coming  over  his  face  as  his  train  of 
thought  was  by  then  definitely  derailed. 
"His  name?  No.  Didn't  get  that." 


IV 


morning  I  happened,  for  some 
reason  or  other,  to  be  in  the  Doc- 
tor's office.  A  lady  from  a  near-by  town 
had  been  consulting  him.  As  she  was 
about  to  leave,  she  said:  "Tell  me,  Dr. 
Janeway,  about  Dr.  N.  in  our  town.  We 
have  just  gone  there  to  live,  you  know, 
and  we  want  to  be  sure  to  have  the  best 
doctor  in  case  we  have  to  call  one  in. " 
Dr.  Janeway  replied:  "You  cannot  do 
better  than  Dr.  N.  I  know  him  very 
well.  He  is  a  good  doctor.  He  won't 
do  you  any  harm. "  The  lady  went  away 
and  I  went  back  to  my  work  in  the  labora- 
tory, but  that  phrase  kept  ringing  in  my 
ears.  "He  is  a  very  good  doctor.  He 
won't  do  you  any  harm. "  What  had  he 
meant  by  that  ?  I  kept  wondering.  Well, 


20 


Dr.  Janeway  21 

the  woman  seemed  to  be  satisfied;  at 
least  she  went  away  without  further  com- 
ment. Later  on — perhaps  two  or  three 
weeks  later — I  heard  him  make  very  much 
the  same  remark  again:  "Dr.  R.  is  an 
excellent  doctor.  He  won't  do  you  any 
harm. "  I  did  not  understand  his  mean- 
ing then,  but  the  thing  got  stuck  in  my 
mind,  and  I  remembered  it.  It  was  some 
years,  I  think,  before  that  saying,  for  it 
would  keep  coming  back  to  me,  com- 
menced to  make  its  real  impression. 
Then,  as  time  and  experience  went  on, 
clearer  and  clearer  became  its  significance 
until  I  have  come  to  see  it  as  an  expres- 
sion of  that  wisdom — that  deeper  wisdom 
of  the  man  whose  simple  words  often 
revealed  such  subtle  truths. 


V 

^\R.  Janeway's  relation  to  his  profes- 
sion and  to  his  fellow  physicians  was 
one  of  rare  felicity,  and  well  it  might  have 
been,  for  his  code  of  professional  conduct 
stood  squarely  upon  that  principle  of 
consideration  for  others,  on  which  the 
hope  of  a  some-time  civilization  in  reality, 
must  ever  rest.  "Do  unto  others  as  you 
would  have  them  do  unto  you, "  was  more 
than  his  motto;  it  was  his  motive;  more 
than  his  precept,  it  was  his  practice.  The 
revised  version:  "Do  others  before  they 
do  you,"  which  has  come  so  largely  into 
recent  vogue,  both  professionally  as  well 
as  commercially,  would  have  had  little 
appeal  to  a  man  whose  real  goal  lay  so 
far  on  beyond  personal  position  and  pri- 
vate gain.  In  no  better  place  than  here, 


22 


Dr.  Janeway  23 

with  his  simple  and  straight  code  of 
conduct,  can  I  mention  something  of 
Dr.  Janeway's  religion. 

In  days  when  doctors  are  flying  from 
creeds  and  more — from  faith,  seeking  to 
solace  their  souls  in  science  alone,  this 
great  man's  simple  adherence  to  the  teach- 
ings of  Christ  become  dramatic  proof  of 
his  powers  of  vision.  But  it  was  not  the 
conventional  Christ  drawing  a  fashion- 
able flock  to  a  Sunday  morning  service  to 
church  and  a  Monday  morning  service  to 
self,  which  gave  the  angle  to  this  man's 
uprightness;  his  religion  was  one  of 
action  rather  than  exhibition;  he  used  it 
to  control  his  own  life  rather  than  to 
coerce  the  lives  of  others. 


VI 

HTHERE  is  one  notably  outstanding 
memory  of  Dr.  Janeway  which 
dates  from  those  earlier  days  in  his  office 
and  which  deals  with  that  large  class  of 
people  who  imagine  they  are  ill — those 
people  whose  numbers  are  directly  pro- 
portionate to  periods  of  so-called  prosper- 
ity, who  call  forth  innumerable  cults  of 
curing,  and  who  are  the  mainstay  of  much 
of  the  mummery  in  medicine. 

I  shall  never  forget  one  day  at  lunch 
after  Dr.  Janeway  had  been  seeing  some 
of  these  mentally  mortgaged  men  and 
women.  As  he  sat  down  at  table  his  face 
wore  that  expression  of  perplexity  which 
one  at  times  sees  as  the  outward  sign  of 
that  inward  sense  of  the  futility  of  things 

in  general.     I  inquired  how  matters  had 
24 


Dr.  Janeway  25 

been  going  in  the  office  that  morning. 
His  reply,  "  Neurasthenics !"  as  it  came 
out  with  all  his  characteristic  bluntness, 
set  me  to  asking  questions.  What  I 
learned  that  day  from  the  Doctor,  coupled 
with  later  observations  of  his  methods  in 
dealing  with  these  unfortunates,  has  never 
needed  unlearning.  He  saw  in  these 
patients,  wholly  free  from  organic  dis- 
order, yet  a  prey  to  aches  and  obsessions, 
to  fears  and  depressions,  the  unhappy 
results  of  that  conflict  in  the  subconscious 
self  between  the  natural  order  of  life  and 
the  socially  ordered  life.  He  saw  it  and 
I  am  sure  sorrowed  over  it.  Yet  he  never 
entered  into  a  compact  to  treat  them  for 
what  he  knew  they  did  not  have.  He 
never  left  a  stone  unturned  to  prove  to 
himself  that  they  suffered  from  no  physi- 
cal fault,  and  with  his  positive  terseness 
he  rarely  failed  to  prove  that  fact  to  them 
— freeing  them,  oftentimes  for  good  and 


26  Dr.  Janeway 

all,  from  the  fears  and  symptoms  which 
assailed  them,  and  giving  them  in  few  and 
frank  terms  the  key  to  their  unconscious 
calamity. 


VII 

A  LL  too  soon  for  me  passed  that  period 
of  service  in  Dr.  Janeway's  office, 
but  as  good  fortune  would  have  it,  my  fu- 
ture was  still  to  feel  the  touch  of  that  fine 
association. 

A  year  later,  when  my  hospital  work  as 
an  interne  was  over,  Dr.  Janeway's  son, 
Dr.  Theodore  Janeway,  asked  me  to  make 
my  office  in  his  house.  This  arrangement 
continued  for  two  or  three  years,  when  I 
found  myself  going  to  Europe  for  a  win- 
ter's special  study.  With  my  return  to 
New  York,  the  necessity  of  a  larger  office 
brought  that  one-time  closer  affiliation 
with  the  Doctor  to  an  end.  But  the  seeds 
were  planted  which  were  destined  to  bear 
for  me  the  fruit  of  one  of  those  infrequent 

friendships,  the  influence  of  which  still 
27 


28  Dr.  Janeway 

goes  on,  finding  fresh  inspiration  from  its 
memory. 

I  had  not  been  long  in  my  new  quarters 
before  I  again  began  to  feel  the  result  of 
Dr.  Janeway's  and  his  son's  thoughts 
of  me,  for  it  was  from  them  that  many 
of  my  first  patients  were  referred,  and  it 
was  from  this  beginning  that  the  happy 
relationship  with  the  Doctor  was  steadily 
continued  as  long  as  he  remained  in  prac- 
tice. 

There  was  one  remarkable  thing  about 
all  these  patients  who  came  from  Dr. 
Janeway's  office,  or  to  those  I  was  called 
to  see  at  his  suggestion;  one  thing  in  which 
they  seemed  to  differ  from  all  other  pa- 
tients. They  came  full  of  that  faith 
which  his  thoughtful  study  and  under- 
standing of  their  cases  forced  them  to  feel 
— and  full  of  that  faith  which  the  deep 
sincerity  of  his  interest  in  their  welfare 
inspired.  It  made  my  part  easy  and  it 


Dr.  Janeway  29 

helped  secure  good  results  for  the  patients, 
from  whom  I  would  often  harvest  a  grati- 
tude where  he  had  scattered  the  seeds, 
and  reap  a  reward  which  was  due  to  his 
husbandry. 

It  may  be  trite,  nothing  more  than  a 
frayed  commonplace,  perhaps,  to  say 
that  the  force  of  good  goes  on,  is  never 
lost — yet  the  sincere,  the  straight,  the 
strong  something  that  went  out  from  this 
man  and  entered  into  others,  certainly 
continued  on,  and  was  not  lost. 


VIII 

CELF-CONTAINED  and  self -controlled 
^  as  Dr.  Janeway  was,  there  were  some 
things  which  kindled  his  righteous  wrath 
to  a  state  of  militant  activity.  And 
one  of  these  was  petty  political  plot- 
ting in  the  ranks  of  his  own  profession 
— the  profession  he  loved  and  believed 
in  as  an  institution  of  sound  progress 
when  not  soiled  by  selfish  purpose.  An 
instance  of  this  came  to  me  through  a 
personal  experience.  It  was  soon  after 
my  return  from  study  abroad,  while  I 
was  seeking  a  suitable  position  in  a  city 
hospital.  This  particular  place  was  all 
but  secured  when  another  post  was  offered 
to  me  by  the  head  of  one  of  the  largest 
30 


Dr.  Jane  way  31 

medical  institutions  in  town.  With 
youthful  naivete,  I  expressed  my  appre- 
ciation of  the  offer  but  explained  my 
reasons  for  wishing  to  secure  the  appoint- 
ment I  had  been  seeking.  Incensed  by 
the  fact  that  I  did  not  directly  jump  at 
his  offer,  the  noted  doctor  brought  the 
interview  rapidly  to  an  end,  and  I  de- 
parted. Some  weeks  went  by  and  from 
the  position  which  I  had  been  in  quest  of 
and  from  which  I  should  have  received 
word,  I  heard  nothing.  And  then,  I 
found  out  why.  The  powerful  gentleman, 
whose  offer  I  had  not  accepted,  had  lost 
no  time  in  going  to  the  hospital  head  who 
had  practically  arranged  to  assign  me  to 
the  desired  position,  and  telling  him  it 
would  be  a  great  mistake  to  give  me  the 
post. 

When  Dr.  Janeway  found  this  out,  it 
was  plain  that  there  was  still  another  side 
to  the  Doctor,  for  his  strength  to  strike 


32  Dr.  Janeway 

out  at  foul  play  showed  its  sufficient 
force  on  that  occasion.  It  is  almost 
needless  to  say  that  the  desired  appoint- 
ment was  very  soon  mine. 


IX 

HPHERE  were  three  things  I  should 
A  say  the  Doctor  did  not  like.  One  of 
these  was  the  newspaper  reporter  who 
tried  to  get  "inside"  information  when 
some  especially  prominent  person  hap- 
pened to  be  a  patient  of  his.  This  was 
not  just  a  simple,  single-sided  dislike 
which  the  Doctor  felt,  either.  The  idea  of 
any  physician  inviting  press  publicity  was 
bad  enough,  but  the  idea  of  any  physician 
telling  the  public  about  the  private 
affairs  of  a  patient  was — well — .  I  hap- 
pened one  day  to  be  with  the  Doctor  when 
a  reporter  approached  on  such  an  errand, 
so  I  know  quite  well  how  the  Doctor 
felt  on  this  subject,  and  I  am  inclined  to 
believe  the  reporter  must  also  have  car- 
ried away  some  impression  of  it. 

3  33 


34  Dr.  Janeway 

The  other  two  things  the  Doctor  seemed 
to  dislike  were  writing  medical  papers  and 
speaking  in  public;  anything,  in  short, 
which  might  by  any  chance  give  an  im- 
pression of  putting  himself  forward,  was 
distasteful  to  him.  As  for  display  of  any 
sort,  any  external  polishing,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  appearing  prosperous  and  thus 
inviting  prosperity,  would  have  been  to 
Dr.  Janeway  utterly  impossible. 

As  far  as  personal  success  and  advance- 
ment went,  I  am  convinced  his  mind  was 
never  concerned  beyond  that  measure  of 
reward  which  might  openly  be  balanced 
against  actual  attainment  and  actual 
ability.  What  a  sorrowful  satisfaction 
that  would  be  for  many  of  us! 


X 

j\]OW  that  these  few  ingredients  of  Dr. 
Janeway's  greatness,  which  have 
come  out  of  memory  to  mind,  have  found 
their  way  to  paper,  it  is  hoped  they  may 
not  wholly  miss  their  mark.  Incomplete 
though  the  picture  is,  it  should  carry 
some  clue  to  the  character  of  the  man  who 
made  the  profession  of  medicine  a  finer 
and  a  better  profession  for  his  having 
been  in  it.  To  bring  into  any  walk  of 
life  so  much  talent  and  truth,  so  much 
candour  and  courage,  and  withal,  such 
simplicity  and  sincerity,  is  to  leave  it 
raised  to  a  higher  level  for  all  time. 

Such  lives  need  no  tribute  to  their 
memory.  On  the  contrary,  they  levy 
an  unforgettable  tax  on  all  who  would 
live  on  by  lower  standards. 

35 


36  Dr.  Janeway 

To  those  whose  minds  can  grasp  the 
general  disorder  in  which  we  try  to  live— 
the  moral  indirection  of  our  everyday 
endeavour  to  get  somewhere,  this  day 
toward  a  gilded  goal,  tomorrow  toward 
the  promise  of  fame,  the  day  after  seeking 
applause  for  our  benevolence,  or  one  after 
one  thing,  another  after  another  thing, 
and  hardly  any  one  after  anything  that 
counts — it  is  to  these  that  this  man's 
unaffected,  unselfish,  upbuilding  life  must 
come  as  a  strong  and  refreshing  draught 
of  reality. 

A  life  worth  knowing  about  for  those 
with  ideals;  a  life  to  study  for  those  who 
are  sincere;  a  life  with  a  lesson  for  every 
student  of  medicine. 


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